Masonry wall with flexible joint



Oct. 29, 1957 H. F. zAGRAY 2,811,035

' MAsoNRY WALL WITH FLEXIBLE' JOINT Filed Jan. 23, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENToR.

H. F. ZAGRAY MAsoNRY WALL WITH FLEXIBLE JOINT Oct. 2,9, 1957 Filed Jan. 23. v1952 1 IN VEN TOR. Har/Poldi? Z w Y BY .91 y '5g/zeau, ATTORNEYS United rates MASONRY WALL WITH FLEXIBLE JOINT Application January z3, 1952, serial No. 267,768

z Claims. (ci. 7z-z9) The invention relates to masonry Walls, and more particularly to a flexible or resilient joint therein to compensate for expansion and contraction of the units of which the wall is formed, due to extreme temperature changes.

In masonry walls, particularly where they are of any considerable length, and especially where they are formed of concrete blocks or similar building units, diliiculty is frequently experienced by cracks developing at numerous places in the wall, following along the vertical joints between blocks.

It has been found that this condition exists where a wall, of appreciably greater length than in the average dwelling house, is subjected to extreme temperature changes which cause a slight expansion or contraction, as the case may be, in each block or unit in the wall.

This slight increase or decrease in the length of each block, being multiplied by the number of blocks in a course, produces a longitudinal movement of each course of blocks in the wall, resulting in the crushing of one or more vertical joints in each course of blocks under expansion, or the opening up of one or more vertical joints in each course under contraction, the number of vertical joints thus opened up in each course of blocks in the wall ordinarily depending upon the length of the wall.

Such cracks not only disfigure the wall, but weaken it, and also permit water to pass therethrough to the interior of the building not only causing damage to the interior but frequently resulting in a further weakening of the wall when moisture freezes in said cracks.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a simple, inexpensive and easily applied ilexible or resilient joint for compensating for expansion and contraction of the blocks in a masonry wall, so as ito avoid the formation of cracks in the wall.

It is an object of the invention to provide vertical joints formed of asphalt or similar iiexible or resilient material at one or more points in a masonry wall so as to allow for horizontal expansion and contraction of the blocks of which the wall is formed without permitting the formation of cracks in the wall.

Another object is to provide a exible or resilient expansion and contraction joint in a wall formed of cement blocks of a special design having vertical openings therein and longitudinal grooves in their upper and lower surfaces communicating with vertical grooves in their end surfaces, adapted to receive grout or the like to bond the blocks together internally in the Wall.

A further object is to provide a exible or resilient expansion and contraction joint in a wall composed of building blocks of this character, the flexible joint being formed by placing a tube of paper or other suitable material through vthe registering vertical grooves and apertures in the blocks at one point in the wall and iilling said tube with hot asphalt or the like, and lling the adjacent grooves and apertures with grout, whereby the vertical formation of asphalt separates the grout at this point.

1 atent ice A still further object is to provide such a exible joint by inserting a substantially rigid tube of metal or other suitable material through the registering vertical grooves and apertures in the blocks at one or more points in the wall, filling the adjacent grooves and apertures on each side of said tube with grout, and then, when the grout has partially set or hardened, removing the tube and filling the resulting opening with asphalt.

As another object of the invention, the ilexible joint may be formed by providing dams or barriers in the hor-v izontal grooves of certain blocks in the Wall, and filling the openings and grooves in the blocks, between adjacent dams, with asphalt, and filling the remaining openings and grooves in the wall with grout. v,

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from the drawings and following description, or which may be later referred to, may be attained by constructing the improved exible expansion and contraction joint in the manner hereinafter described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which;

Fig. l is a perspective View of a special design of building block with which the llexible expansion and contraction joint may be used, showing the top of the block;

Fig. 2 a similar View, showing the bottom of the block;

Fig. 3 a vertical, sectional, elevation of a portion of a wall showing two of the tiexible expansion and contraction joints to which the invention'pertains;

Fig. 4 a fragmentary, horizontal section through the wall, through one of the flexible expansion and contraction joints to which the invention pertains;

Fig. 5 a vertical, sectional view through a portion of a wall showing the manner in which two of the flexible expansion and contraction joints of the type shown in Figs. 3 and 4, may be formed at one time;

Fig. 6 a vertical, sectional elevation of a portion of a wall, showing another form of flexible expansion and contraction joint, two of such joints being shown;

Fig. 7 a vertical, sectional elevation through a portion of a wall, showing a rigid tube located through communicating vertical grooves and openings at one point in the wall, preparatory to forming a exible joint therein;

Fig. 8 a similar view after the tube has been removed and the exible joint formed in the wall; and,

Fig. 9 a horizontal, sectional view through the wall, through one of the flexible expansion and contraction joints, taken as on the line 9-9, Fig. 8.

While the ilexible expansion and contraction joint is applicable to a masonry wall built of any type of building blocks, for the purpose of illustration it is shown in the drawings as applied to a wall` built of a special design of concrete block.

This block is shown in detail in Figs. l and 2, in which the block is indicated generally at '10. A longitudinal rib 11 is formed at the top of the block, being of a width only slightly less than the width of the block and preferably slightly tapered upward, as at 12, having a substantially flat top 13 with the central, half-round,A longitudinal groove 14 therein.

At the bottom of the block is formed a similarly shaped recess 15, having a central, longitudinal, half-round groove 16 therein. Recesses 17 are formed at each end of the block and provided with the central, vertical, half-round grooves 13 therein, and a central, vertical, round opening 19 is formed through the block, adapted to communicate at opposite ends with the vertical grooves 18 in the blocks of the courses directly above and directly below, when the blocks are laid up in a wall.

These horizontal and vertical grooves and vertical openings provide a communicating network of mortar spaces within the Wall, and extend entirely around each block and vertically through the center thereof, so that a dry n wall may be laid up to the blocks after which grout or the like is poured into this network of mortar spaces to internally bound the blocks together.

This grout may be any suitable mixture of hydraulic cementand' a suitable aggregate, with sufiicient water to permit the grout to ow easily, so that'it may poured or forced under pressure, into the network of mortar spaces in the wall, and is of such composition that it will set and harden, providing a substantially rigid mortar bond within the wall to firmly bond the blocks together horizontally and vertically.

In order to form the exible expansion and contraction joint shown in Figs. 3 and 4, barriers or dams are provided in the horizontal mortar spaces formed Yby the upper and lower horizontal grooves 14 and 16 respectively of the blocks at either side of the flexible vertical joint, such dams being indicated at 20.

, These dams may be formed as the wall is laid up, by inserting plugs of plastic cement, clay or the like at these points, or, if desired, certain of the blocks may have barriers or dams formed in the horizontal upper and lower grooves 14 and 16, as indicated at 2l) in Figs. l and 2.

Then grout, as indicated at 21, is poured into the network of mortar spaces on each side of these barriers, entirely filling this network with grout which bonds the blocks together within the wall. Asphalt or similar flexible, plastic material in liquid form, which may be heated to molten condition, is then poured into the verticallyaligned series of vertical openings 19 and vertical grooves 18, between the barriers 20, forming a fiexible expansion and contraction joint 22, which fills all of the vertical openings 19 and spaces formed by the vertical grooves 18 and horizontal grooves 14 and 16, between the barriers 20.

This forms a exible joint in alternate courses of the blocks at this point, and in order to form a flexible joint in the intervening courses of blocks, a similar joint is formed atan adjacent joint in the wall, as shown in Fig. 3.

The asphalt bonds the blocks together at the point of the flexible joint and allows for, expansion and contraction of the blocks in every course of blocks in the wall, without danger of crushing the joint by expansion, or opening the same by contraction, as is the case with a mortar joint. V

As is well known the surfaces of concrete blocks are not smooth, but owing to the fairly coarse aggregate, which is used in the making of the blocks, such as cinders, crushed blast furnace slag, coarse `pumice and the like, all surfaces of the blocks are somewhat rough and irregular.

For this reason, when the blocks are laid up in a wall and placed in position in each course manually by a mason, and not forced tightly against the next adjacent block by any mechanical means, these rough end surfaces of the block abutting each other produce a hairline opening at each vertical joint between adjacent blocks in each course.

In actual practice, it has been found that there is thus sufficient space between the vertical ends of adjacent blocks in a course to permit horizontal expansion and contraction in the wall, which is compensated for by the resilient vertical joints of asphalt or the like at spaced points throughout the length of the wall. k

Owing to the extremely small scale on which the blocks in the wall are shown in the drawings, it would not be possible to show these spaces betweenthe Yvertical ends of blocks vin each course, without greatly exaggerating the same. However, it should be understood that such a spacing is inherent in the constructionof a wall formed of such concrete blocks. Y Y

In Fig. 5 is shown the manner in which the exible joints for the alternate andl intervening course of blocks may be formed in juxtaposition to each other instead of being spaced apart as in Fig. 3.V

As shown in Fig. 6, the flexible joint may be formedY by inserting a tube 24 of paper or similar thin flexible material,l through a. vertically aligned series of vertical.

openings 19 and vertical grooves 18, then lling the tube with asphalt or the like, as shown at 25, and then pouring grout into all of the net Work of vertical openings and vertical and horizontal grooves on each side of the ilexible joint thus formed, as indicated at 26.

By locating two of these iexible joints at adjacent points in the wall, as shown in Fig. 6, exible joints arethus provided in all courses of blocks in the wall. Y j

In Figs. 7, 8 and 9 is shown another manner'in which the flexible joint may be formed. As shown in Fig.,f7, a rigid tube 27, of metal or the like, may first be Vinserted through an aligned series of vertical openings 19 and vertical grooves 18, at the desired point or points in the wall where cxible joints are desired'.

Grout, as indicated at 28, is then poured into the network of vertical openings and vertical and horizontal Y grooves on each side of the rigid tube 27. When the grout has set sufiiciently to permit withdrawal of the rigid tube 27, this tube is withdrawn and the vertical spaces from which it is removed are tilled with asphalt or the like, as shown at 29, forming a flexible expansion and contraction joint at this point. Two of these joints may be located at adjacent points in the wall, so as to provide flexible expansion and contraction joints in all courses of the blocks in the wall.

It should be understood that the surfaces of concrete blocks are not smooth, but owing to the fairlyv coarse aggregate which is used in the making of the blocks, all surfaces of the blocks are somewhat irregular and rough, having small projections thereon formed of the crushed slag, cinders, pumice and the like ordinarily used as aggregate.

These small projections in the opposed surfaces of the blocks prevent the blocks from being butted tightly together and produce slight openings at each vertical joint betweenv adjacent blocks in each course. As the blocks expand, these small particles of aggregate in opposed end Walls of the block will tend to be crushed.

In actual practice, there is a very slight expansion and contraction of the blocks, the shrinkage of these blocks being very slight, as has been shown by tests upon walls built of concrete blocks of the type disclosed, as well as upon individual blocks.

With the asphalt located in two adjacent vertically aligned series of the vertical openings and vertical grooves in the blocks, as shown in Fig. 5, the entire sections of theY wall 'on each side 'of this double llexible joint are permitted lto expand and contract toward and from the double flexible joint.

VYln the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to be' implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, `because such words are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to be broadly construed. Y

Moreover, the embodiments of the improved 'construction illustrated and described herein are by way of example, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exact details of construction.

Having now described the invention or discovery, the construction, the operation and'use of preferred embodi` ments thereof, and the advantageous new and useful results obtained thereby; the new and useful constructions, and reasonable mechanical equivalents thereof obvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the appended claims.

l claim:

l. In a masonry wall formed of superposed courses of building blocks, each block having vertical openings therethrough intermediate its ends and communicating vertical and horizontal grooves in opposite ends and in its vupperancllower surfaces respectively, forming a network of communicating vertical and horizontal mortar spaces within the wall, the blocks being staggered in adjacent courses with each of the vertical joints therebetween being aligned with a vertical opening in a block of the course immediately above and below and forming a vertical passage through the courses for the height of the wall, a flexible joint comprising flexible plastic bonding material such as asphalt filling two adjacent vertical passages and the horizontal mortar spaces therebetween, and substantially rigid hydraulic cement bonding Inaterial located in all of the vertical and horizontal mortar spaces on each side of said two vertical passages, whereby the blocks are bonded together in a substantially rigid masonry wall on each side of said two adjacent vertical passages and the flexible plastic bonding material in said two vertical passages provides a flexible expansion and contraction joint between the substantially rigid masonry wall on each side thereof.

2. In a masonry wall formed of superposed courses of building blocks, each block having vertical openings therethrough intermedi-ate its ends and communicating vertical and horizontal grooves in opposite ends and l adjacent horizontal mortar spaces to said barriers, and substantially rigid hydraulic cement bonding material located in all of the vertical and horizontal mortar spaces beyond said barriers, whereby the blocks are bonded together in a substantially rigid masonry wall on each side of said two adjacent vertical passages and the ilexible plastic bonding material in said two vertical passages provides a flexible expansion and contraction joint between the substantially rigid masonry wall on each side thereof.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 552,787 Smith Jan. 7, 1896 650,824 Cottom June 5, 1900 815,687 Davis Mar. 20, 1906 921,586 Bmmbaugh May 11, 1909 1,154,546 Peters Sept. 21, 1915 1,365,687 Hassam Ian. 18, 1921 1,369,161 Benson et al. Feb. 22, 1921 1,884,319 Smith Oct. 25, 1932 1,897,659 Brassert et al. Feb. 14, 1933 1,973,088 Masiello et al Sept. 11, 1934 1,985,160 Gates Dec. 18, 1934 2,073,130 Wallace Mar. 9, 1937 2,206,403 Jaruschka July 2, 1940 2,361,205 Hoover Oct. 24, 1944 2,470,917 Christensen May 24, 1949 2,558,630 Stewart June 26, 1951 2,680,370 Spaight lune 8, 1954 

